Executive with 25+ Years of Neuroscience-focused Commercialization Experience To Lead Commercial Strategic Development Across the Company’s Pipeline of CNS Assets

SAN FRANCISCO and BOSTON, Apr. 3, 2023 – MapLight Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing targeted, highly effective therapeutics to improve the lives of those with difficult-to-treat brain disorders, today announced the appointment of Charmaine Lykins, MBA, as chief commercial officer, effective April 3,2023.

“We are pleased to welcome Charmaine to our leadership team at this pivotal time for MapLight,” said Chris Kroeger, M.D., MBA, MapLight’s Chief Executive Officer and Founder. “She is a recognized leader with unparalleled experience developing the early commercialization strategy for neurology and psychiatry treatments and launching those treatments in the market. Her expertise will be invaluable to us in this new role, as we progress our clinical and pre-clinical pipeline.” 

“It’s an exciting time to be joining MapLight and I am honored to work with this distinguished team of neuroscience research and development leaders,” said Charmaine Lykins. “The majority of my career has been dedicated to commercializing new treatments in MapLight’s therapeutic areas of focus, where there still are significant unmet needs for patients and caregivers. I look forward to working with the team to bring differentiated, innovative treatments to people with autism, schizophrenia, Parkinson’s disease and other CNS conditions.”

Ms. Lykins brings more than 25 years of neuroscience-focused pharmaceutical commercial experience across multiple organizations recognized as leaders in developing and commercializing medicines for central nervous system disorders, including Eli Lilly, Lundbeck, Sunovion and ACADIA Pharmaceuticals. Ms. Lykins most recently served as Chief Commercial Officer at Karuna Therapeutics where she led planning and execution of the organization’s commercial capabilities in preparation for the launch of KarXT. Prior to Karuna she was Senior Vice President, Global Product Planning and Chief Marketing Officer for ACADIA, where she led NUPLAZID ®  Parkinson’s Disease Psychosis marketing, new product planning and launch preparations for Dementia Related Psychosis. Prior to ACADIA, she led commercialization and planning efforts for Lundbeck’s portfolio of schizophrenia treatments from early development through commercialization. Her U.S. and global commercialization and strategic planning experience consists of 10 product launches, including REXULTI ®  in schizophrenia, depression, and agitation in Alzheimer’s disease, ABILIFY MAINTENA ®  in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, LATUDA ® , CYMBALTA ® , and ZYPREXA ®.

Ms. Lykins received her MBA with an emphasis in international business from the University of South Carolina and received her bachelor’s degree in chemistry and honors humanities from Ball State University.

About MapLight Therapeutics

MapLight Therapeutics is developing targeted, highly effective therapeutics to improve the lives of those with difficult-to-treat brain disorders. Today, there are few therapeutic options for people living with conditions such as Autism Spectrum Disorder, Parkinson’s Disease, and Schizophrenia, and those therapies are limited by modest efficacy and significant side effects. MapLight is committed to redefining this standard of care. The company’s unique discovery platform combines novel, proprietary technologies to uncover the individual circuits that misfire in brain disorders and treat those circuits with effective, safe therapeutics. MapLight was founded in 2019 by a team of renowned neuroscientists who led the discovery of such groundbreaking technologies as optogenetics and STARmap. Learn more at www.maplightrx.com.                                                                                            

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Media Contact for MapLight Therapeutics
Lauren Davis, Alkali Marketing, 512-751-2946